Ohio State sophomore defender, Sydney Jones (5), is hoping to build upon her freshman year season, which she earned Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors. Credit: Zachary Rilley | Photo Editor
After training with the U20 U.S.Women’s National Soccer Team this summer, Buckeyes defender Sydney Jones hopes her sophomore season will top her first-year campaign where she earned Big Ten All-Freshman Team honors.
Jones played every minute in all 20 of Ohio State’s matches in the 2021-22 season, mostly playing out-of-position at center back, rather than her natural position of outside back.
“I’m just going to get better this year,” Jones said. “Keep working, do the same things as last year, maybe work a little bit harder because it will be harder to top what I did last year.”
Jones totaled five shots during her debut season after redshirting in her first year with the program, which came in spring 2021 after the pandemic impacted fall sports schedules.
Head coach Lori Walker-Hock said Jones’ prior experience training with the U.S. National Team at the U17 level helped her transition to her more familiar spot on the field go smoothly.
“I think the timing of her being in this summer, she had been playing center back for us last year, and they actually had her playing both outside back and center back,” Walker-Hock said. “I think for her to get back to what we call her natural position as a wide defender was beneficial for her to get that experience again at that level.”
Walker-Hock added that because everyone in the national team training session is an elite player, it is a reminder of how much progress can be made in the future.
“For her, she recognized she needed to be fitter. She needed to be more sharp,” Walker-Hock said. “She’s really done a lot of work on her nutrition, her rest, her hydration, and her sleep patterns. For me, I think it’s been really great to see her elevate her game to a new level.”
Jones, who scored the game-winning penalty kick to clinch Ohio State’s spot in last year’s Big Ten Tournament, said there have been similarities and differences throughout her years at the national level.
“As you get older, you learn more so you’re able to do more things, but it’s just getting more and more advanced,” Jones said. “The level’s still always really high. It’s always really fast. You’re playing with the best girls across the country, so it’s always going to be really competitive.”
Graduate forward Emaly Vatne said she observed growth in Jones’ leadership, even though she’s only a sophomore.
“I think she’s grown in her confidence to lead the team and her voice has grown a lot,” Vatne said. “The things that she brings to the team are really specia,l and the way she sees the game is something we want to share with the whole team, and I think over the summer she really embraced that. We all want to hear her voice more, and the success she had last season was phenomenal.”
Jones said growing into a leadership role made her improve not only physically, but on a more human level as well.
“It makes me feel really good,” Jones said. “It also makes me a better person because I have to step up and be a leader. It makes my leadership skills better, but I also know that I’m making other people better.”
After a year of playing at center back, Jones said she’s excited to return to outside back.
“It was like I got freed a little bit because as a center back you’re kind of constrained a little bit to go forward, so now I’m back at my natural position,” Jones said. “Things that I couldn’t really do as a center back, I can do now, and I’m really excited to show that and show that I can get forward, I can go into the attack and be a dangerous player from the back and make teams want to have to figure out how to stop me.”
